Scholars Day Student Work

Temperature Sampling in Burrows of the North American Badger, Taxidea taxus

by Andrew Walsh
Biology
Faculty advisor: Dr. Rick Lampe

The North American badger, Taxidea taxus, constructs burrows in various locations. Many burrows are found in road ditches or fence lines. During three months in autumn, 2010, we sampled the burrow temperatures in three south-facing burrows and compared them with ambient temperatures found near burrow entrances. We used HOBO H8 Pro Series Data Loggers to log the temperatures and placed these devices inside the burrow by using a remote control vehicle (1/24 M1a2 Abrams Tank, VS Tanks). We found that the temperature within these burrows varied over a smaller range and remained warmer than the outside temperature. In one instance, we observed an air temperature of 0.73ºC while the temperature inside the burrow was 7.03ºC.